


Team Magic Battle

by Burgie



Category: Alicia Online, Star Stable Online
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2019-01-21 07:31:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12452598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: The Soul Riders vs Louisa and a group of her friends in a team magic battle in Alicia Online. Zelda belongs to ZDusk, Jacqueline belongs to Zebrablanket, and Alessa belongs to sso-duskhill on tumblr.





	Team Magic Battle

Louisa was a little surprised at all the noise when she rode into Silrion. Her friends had informed her that the three of them would be racing there and had sent her a text message asking her to join, and Louisa had agreed. She liked this racetrack, especially the way the castle invoked thoughts of fantasy novels. It didn't have the great music of Atkin's Desert, but the imagery and ideas it gave her were better than the scenery on any other track. Bucky pulled at the reins, eager to get going, but Louisa petted his mane as she found Zelda waving and rode over to her friends.

"Hi," said Louisa, looking around. "What's all this?" She definitely recognised the other four people, especially because she dated one of them. She waved at Lisa, giving her a smile.

"We're doing a team magic battle," said Jacqueline, standing beside her horse Demon while she checked his tack. The black horse snorted, tossing his head and stamping his hoof in agitation.

"Are you sure he's not a Dark Horse?" asked Alessa, looking suspiciously at her friend's horse while she stood holding the reins of her own horse. Louisa dismounted Bucky, wanting to be on the same level as her friends.

"Pretty sure," said Jacqueline, managing to calm her horse with a carrot. "So, Z, what colour did we get?"

"Ugh, blue," said Zelda, carrying over four blue ribbons. She handed them out to each of her friends as she went, and carefully tied the blue ribbon around her horse's tail. Her horse swished its tail, turning to whinny at her. "I know, but it's what we got."

"Blue's a nice colour," said Louisa, tying the ribbon around Bucky's short tail and laughing as he flicked his little stub of a tail. But the ribbon stayed on, which was good.

"I thought you'd prefer red," said Alessa.

"Demon looks better in red," said Jacqueline. "All our horses do."

"At least you've got that red tack," said Louisa. She had her favourite blue dragon scale tack on Bucky, she had it on every one of her horses. It helped in magic races, which were her favourite, and also it looked really nice.

"And at least your ribbon matches," said Zelda. "It's like you're psychic or something." She frowned. "Hey, you're friends with Linda, she didn't tell you what team we'd be on, did she?"

"No," said Louisa. "You know I don't care about fashion. It's just a happy coincidence."

"Sure," said Jacqueline with a roll of her eyes.

"She's telling the truth, I didn't tell her," said Linda, sighing as she bent to pick up Meteor's red tail ribbon again. Her horse whinnied happily, clearly enjoying her annoyance. Linda frowned at him, giving it a big red bow this time. She smirked at the look on his face.

"Well, at least you finally look half decent," said Anne. She'd tied Concorde's tail up in the usual style she had it in, and he looked quite handsome with the red ribbon holding his tail in the horse version of a bun. "Red isn't really our colour, but it could be worse."

"Yeah, it could be pink," said Alex. Louisa laughed as her three friends shuddered.

"Can we swap colours? Please?" asked Zelda.

"No, the blue would make it look like Starshine's tail is coming apart," said Lisa with a shudder. Starshine nickered, shuddering with her at the thought of that.

"Alright, good point," said Zelda. "I guess blue isn't that bad." Once the ribbon was tied around her horse's tail, she mounted it. "Alright, gang, let's go over here and talk strategy." The other three mounted and followed after her, heading around a corner and down the street a little so that they wouldn't be heard.

"There's a strategy?" asked Louisa, confusion furrowing her brow as she dismounted again and joined the other three in a huddle. Their horses remained where they were, Demon trying to bite the blue ribbon off his tail. He started to chase his tail, which they all laughed at. But, finally, after a good few minutes of this in which many videos were taken, Jacqueline walked over to Demon and removed the ribbon, tying it around her wrist instead.

"Yeah, or it's a good idea to have one, anyway," said Jacqueline.

"So that we all know what to do in the race," said Zelda. "We might have a better chance of winning if we follow a strategy."

"Oh yeah, that makes sense," said Louisa, nodding and pushing her glasses back up her nose.

"You're so good at magic that I'm surprised you haven't got a strategy, actually," said Zelda. Alessa nodded.

"I'm just really lucky with the dragons, I guess," said Louisa. "But I'm really bad at speed races. I suck at them."

"Well, that's what you get for not specialising any horses in speed," said Jacqueline.

"I'm better than I was," said Louisa. "I know how to slide now."

"Yeah, right into walls," said Zelda with a laugh. Louisa blushed.

"I don't do that anymore," said Louisa. "Reed gave Jacky and I a lesson."

"That was the day Demon and Bucky were born," said Jacqueline, petting Demon's withers. His flank twitched, and he flicked his tail. "Calm down, stop living up to your name. You can attack in the race." Louisa laughed.

"That was a fun day," said Louisa, remembering how fun it had been to slide in circles around Phoebe Fields with flowers flying all around them.

"Anyway," said Zelda, clapping her hands together to get their attention. "It's strategy time."

"My strategy is to throw dragons at them," said Louisa.

"Are you willing to possibly hurt your girlfriend, though?" asked Zelda. "These races can get pretty vicious."

"I think she'll be fine," said Alessa. "She's pretty, uh... ruthless in the magic singles." Louisa blushed.

"What can I say? I get caught up in the race," said Louisa. "And nobody gets hurt badly, or if they do, it's easy to heal them. Lisa has healing magic and can self-heal, so she'll be fine."

"I'm glad friendly fire isn't a thing," said Zelda. "We'd all need healing afterwards otherwise."

"We probably will anyway," said Alessa, pushing her hair behind her ear. "I really hope Alex isn't allowed to use Soul Strike in this race."

"Me too," said Louisa. "Though I imagine it can't be as bad as the fireballs."

"Somehow, I doubt that," said Jacqueline. "I've seen what that spell does to goons, and it's not pretty."

"I wonder if they're planning their strategy too," said Louisa.

"Let's just plan ours, please," said Zelda.

"Alright," said Jacqueline. "So the point is to win the race. One of us can use the speed boosts and phoenix feathers to get ahead, because if one wins then the whole team wins, and the rest of us can work on keeping the enemy from winning. Louisa, you usually race with the Soul Riders back in Jorvik, which one of them is the fastest?"

"That'd be Lisa and Starshine," said Louisa.

"Right, so she's our main target," said Jacqueline, nodding. "Aim all your fireballs and dragons at her."

"And remember that it's for the good of the team," said Zelda, giving Louisa a knowing smirk. "Bros before hoes."

"Lisa isn't a hoe," Louisa muttered. "But alright, I'll aim for her."

"And if you have ice, only put it down if you're at the back of the pack," said Zelda.

"Alright, I can do that," said Louisa, nodding.

"And if one of us gets hit by a dragon," said Jacqueline, "ask who has a shield and pass it on to them if you can't pass it on to the enemy."

"Good plan," said Alessa.

Around the corner, the Soul Riders were planning their own strategy.

"But I don't want to hurt my girlfriend," said Lisa.

"Well, she won't be shy about hurting you," said Linda. "Don't worry, it's not meant badly, she just gets caught up in magic races."

"Magic is addicting like that," said Alex, stretching her arms up. Lightning jumped between her fingertips, leaving the scent of ozone in its wake.

"About that, outside magic is banned in these races," said Linda.

"Damn, that sucks," said Alex.

"I know, but there are fireballs that you can use instead," said Linda. "They're kinda like Soul Strike, only less deadly."

"Hmph," Alex huffed. "I guess I can make do with that."

"Well, you're going to have to," said Anne. "The rules are made for a reason, to keep people safe in the races."

"I suppose," said Alex with a sigh. "So, what's our strategy?"

"Let Lisa win and keep the other team behind her," said Linda. "She's the fastest out of all of us."

"Maybe one of us could be at the back to fire spells at the others," said Alex.

"Yes, just keep an eye out for ice," said Linda. "The other team will probably leave a trail of it behind them, to slow us down."

"Just remember that you can fly over the ice in some cases," said Anne. The magic of this land enabled all horses to sprout ethereal wings, which was one of Anne's favourite things about this place.

"Yes, good thinking," said Linda, nodding.

"Are you guys done yet?" they heard Zelda call, and they laughed.

"Well, are we?" asked Alex.

"Yes, I think we are," said Linda. "Lisa goes in front, someone goes behind to attack the other team-"

"I volunteer," said Alex, raising her hand.

"Alex goes behind," Linda amended. "And the rest of us just race."

"If you get hit by a dragon, wait until the fifth flame appears and then use your shield if you have one," said Lisa. "I learned that tip the hard way." Alex laughed.

"And yet you don't want to hurt her," said Alex. "Wow, you really are a sap."

"And, what, you'd be willing to hurt your girlfriend with magic?" asked Lisa.

"Yes," Anne and Alex replied in unison. Lisa just stared at them in confusion.

The Soul Riders rejoined the four friends, and the eight of them made their way to the starting line, tail ribbons on and strategies ready.

"Good luck," said Lisa, giving her girlfriend a kiss before taking her place in her own team.

"Don't hold the dragons against me," said Louisa. Lisa chuckled.

A tenseness overtook the eight of them as the timer counted down to zero, and then they sprang into action. Any nerves vanished as Alex fell behind to the back of the pack. She snagged a fireball, which collided with Zelda, and then it was on.

"Oh, come on, that's the third dragon in thirty seconds!" Linda complained as she brushed up against Alessa to remove it. Alessa slammed back into it, and it was passed back and forth for several seconds before Jacqueline blew between the two and destroyed the spell with a shield.

"Sorry," Louisa called, though her voice was too light and filled with laughter for it to be serious. Another spell glowed in her fist, and she poked her tongue out of her mouth while she aimed. She didn't see the lightning above her, and gave a sharp cry of surprise and pain as she and Bucky stood their ground and shivered under the assault. Bucky snorted, and Louisa glared back at a smirking Alex, who was trotting along behind them.

It brought Alex great joy to hear four cries of despair and anger as she unleashed the shackle spell, but she completely understood the wall of ice that greeted her when she finally picked up speed to slide around a sharp corner.

Up in front, Louisa was gaining on Lisa, another spell clutched tightly in her fists. It was another fireball, and this time, she managed to lock onto her target and fire.

"Dammit!" Lisa cursed as her and Starshine went down, and Louisa pulled out in front. Seconds later, Zelda blazed past on the wings of a Phoenix Feather, and Louisa had to resist the strong urge to dragon her. It wouldn't work anyway, and it didn't matter if a team member won. She'd still win just because she was part of the team.

"Go, Z!" Louisa cried, and put on a burst of speed to catch up with her suddenly dragon-afflicted friend. By the time she got there, she discovered that Zelda also couldn't see due to a Dark Fire spell. After removing the dragon from her friend despite not having a shield, Louisa attempted to guide Zelda through the tunnel until the Dark Fire faded. Thankfully, it was gone by the time the dragon hit, and Louisa waved to her friend even as the dragon appeared in front of her and sent her and Bucky crashing to the ground.

Once Louisa crossed the finish line, she beamed at the rest of her team mates.

"Good job!" she cheered, giving them a round of applause. "We won!"

"Heh, barely," said Zelda. "Your girlfriend is really fast."

"I know," said Louisa. "If real life worked the same way as breeding does here, we'd have the fastest babies who are also good at magic."

"Too bad real life doesn't work that way, then, or maybe it's a good thing," said Jacqueline. "That would be one formidable baby."

"Or one prime target for kidnappings," said Alessa.'

"You're absolutely right," said Lisa, wrapping an arm around her girlfriend's shoulders. She kissed her on the cheek, and Louisa smiled.

"No hard feelings?" asked Louisa, looking at her.

"As long as you don't have any hard feelings about that last dragon," said Lisa. "It was mine." Louisa gasped.

"Really, I am wounded," said Louisa, then laughed. "But I'm proud of you for finally doing that. It's fun, isn't it?"

"Even if I called out 'sorry' after it hit," said Lisa. "But I actually laughed."

"Now you're getting it," said Louisa, grinning. "Magic battles are fun."

"Yeah, we should do this again sometime," said Alex.

"I agree," said Anne, smiling as she joined her girlfriend. "There's something fun about hurling spells at your friends without any repercussions. Like snowballs."

"More like Mario Kart but with horses," said Alessa.

"Yeah, that's a better way of putting it," said Lisa.

"If only every problem could be solved by a magic battle like this," said Linda.

"That would make things a whole lot easier," said Louisa.

"The final battle between the Dark Riders and the Soul Riders will take place on Woollen Forest in the form of a magic team race," said Jacqueline with a laugh, and then she gasped. "Oh my god, maybe that's why there are four on each side!"

"Ha, if only it was that simple," said Alex. "In another life, maybe that'd be the case."

The eight of them rode away together, blue-ribboned horses intermingling with red-ribboned ones. Despite the at-times vicious magic attacks, at the end of the day, they were all good friends.


End file.
